Over 3,700 people on a luxury cruise ship now docked in Yokohama, Japan, are trapped aboard, with guests confined to their cabins for the remainder of 14-day quarantine after the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) joined them at sea.

According to reports from Japan, health officials there conducted the “first phase” of screening this week, testing 273 people aboard the liner—named Diamond Princess—for the viral respiratory infection, which is currently causing an explosive outbreak in China.

On Tuesday, February 4, officials confirmed that 10 people had tested positive, including two Australian guests, three Japanese guests, three guests from Hong Kong, one American guest, and one Filipino crew member. They were escorted off the ship for treatment at local hospitals. None of the cases are serious, Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Katō said.

By Wednesday, officials reported that 10 additional people had tested positive. Those people, too, have been escorted off the ship for medical treatment.

Further Reading

The 20 positive cases were identified among results for just 102 people tested. The other 171 people tested so far are still awaiting their results.

Officials were clued into 2019-nCoV’s presence on the ship after a guest from Hong Kong tested positive on land. The man boarded the liner January 20 in Yokohama, sailed the first segment of the 14-day round-trip voyage, and disembarked in Hong Kong on January 25. There, he tested positive for the coronavirus on February 1, according to Princess Cruise Lines, which operates Diamond Princess and is owned by British-American cruise operator Carnival.

Diamond Princess returned to Yokohama earlier than its February 4 scheduled arrival, and the cruise line canceled upcoming voyages amid the health screening.

The people screened for 2019-nCoV so far have been people with infection symptoms and/or those known to have contact with that guest.

Adrift Disease

It's unclear if the 20 cases identified so far are all linked to the initial case or if additional people may have carried the virus on board. As of February 4, the initial infected guest from Hong Kong was said to be in stable condition. The family members traveling with him were symptom-free.

Princess Cruise Line did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Ars, including a list of detailed questions about the cases.

Further Reading

For now, passengers are biding their time cooped up in their cabins while crew members scramble to figure out how to feed and entertain 3,711 quarantined people for 14 days. Princess Cruise Lines has offered refunds and credits and made Wi-Fi and telephone services free for the captive passengers.

Many who have communicated with media report a frustrating lack of communication with staff, problems with food service, and shortages of supplies, such a diapers. Some reported breakfast arriving to their cabin at nearly 2pm, worrying passengers with diabetes who need to eat regularly. Others said they were given ham sandwiches with stale bread for lunch, a significant step down from the normal fare on luxury liners.

One passenger who spoke with The Washington Post said he was glad that at least his cabin had a balcony so he could see outside and get fresh air. He expressed sympathy for his fellow passengers who were not so lucky. “Can you imagine? It would be liked being locked in a wardrobe, wouldn’t it?” he said. “No fresh air. No natural light. It really must be a living hell for them.”

Off the boat, fear is reportedly growing in Japan over the guests who left the ship on other stops before the ship was quarantined. Thirteen passengers disembarked in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, and some of those guests left the country.

Another cruise ship, the World Dream, carrying about 3,600 passengers from China to Vietnam, is being held in Hong Kong for health screening.

Meanwhile, coronavirus outbreak overall continues to ravage China and spread to other countries. As of February 6, there are reports of 28,353 cases worldwide and 565 deaths. Of those, 265 cases have been identified in more than two dozen countries and regions outside of mainland China.

167 Reader Comments

An earlier news report stated that after arrival in Japan, the ship put back to sea to empty its filled sewage tanks, then returned to dock. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Do they just dump their Sewage tanks in the ocean?

Not raw, no. These ships actually do have sewage processing facilities, but you still wouldn't want to drink what they're dumping. Of course, all the stuff they're filtering out has to be gotten rid of too. That's not to say they're all honest, etc...and I'm sure some raw shit gets out.

If I remember correctly anything past 20 miles from the nearest coast you're allowed to dump anything except plastics and styrofoam, but it's been awhile since I looked at the regulations.

An earlier news report stated that after arrival in Japan, the ship put back to sea to empty its filled sewage tanks, then returned to dock. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Do they just dump their Sewage tanks in the ocean?

Is this really shocking? I mean fish poop in the ocean all the time. Dumping waste oil would be a much bigger issue IMHO.

They also need to avoid dumping near shore of course.

Ya but fish poop is part of the natural eco system of the ocean.

human waste not so much, the ocean is not our home.

We've done so well with all the plastic in the ocean...

Can't we just take all of the waste collect it in a rocket and blast if off planet maybe into the sun. Never really understood the point of keeping it all on the planet.

Humans have been living near the oceans for thousands of years, people have been sailing out to sea for thousands of years (sailing and oars pre-date the pyramids) where do you think those people dumped there waste?

For now, passengers are biding their time cooped up in their cabins while crew members scramble to figure out how to feed and entertain 3,711 quarantined passengers for 14 days.

I'm guessing there are going to be LOTS of babies born in 9 months to the passengers on this ship.

And yeah, I've never really had a hankering to take a cruise. This is not helping make the case.

Boats in general are meh. Too slow to travel somewhere, and if you want to just enjoy the view they have these things called shores and beaches.

At a marina (Shilshole near Golden Gardens for the locals) a boat dudebro was asking me if I liked his boat. (I was actually checking out his girlfriend but whatever.) I said meh not my thing. He said I was jealous. I asked him how long it took him to get to Friday Harbor. He said so many hours. I said takes me 40 minutes. He said bullshit. Then he paused and I could tell he figured it out.

For a lot of people it comes down to cost. For the price of just airfare to one Caribbean island on an entry level cruise line you get a room, food and activities on board - and you still get to that island. Then there's the variety you get from seeing multiple places on the longer cruises. For Americans you don't need a passport to cruise either as long as the end points are in US territory.

With a 2 week incubation period, could someone clarify when this quarantine would end? Would it be 2 weeks after the infected passenger disembarked (1/25, so 2/8)? 2 weeks after the last positive test (2/5, so 2/29)? 2 weeks after the quarantine started?

Waiting until this Saturday feels a lot different than waiting until the end of the month.

i have a family member on this ship .. she is one of the lucky ones with a balcony and has been sending us pictures of the stuff that's going on. they docked this morning for re supply and the amount of media waiting on the dock is crazy.

you always see stuff like this in the news and it has nothing to do with you until one of your own is in the middle of it.

An earlier news report stated that after arrival in Japan, the ship put back to sea to empty its filled sewage tanks, then returned to dock. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Ships discharge treated sewage, just like municipalities do. By International Maritime Organisation rules, the sewage is treated on board, disinfected and then discharged. But some ports and countries still require that this discharge is not done in territorial waters.

Being an inquisitive person and having experience in waste treatment, while taking a cruise, I asked to see the waste treatment system. The cruise director said that this was a most unusual request and he would have to check with corporate. But I got my tour. The system was neat and tidy.

I'd be curious to know what are the health workers protocols for dealing with quarantined people like that? I mean, health workers themselves need to interact with quarantined -- to test them for the virus, for example. Are they also quarantined? It might be simpler for well known diseases, where it is well known how they spread and all, but what if it's something novel?

They're wearing protective gear.

What about the crew. Because while it would suck to be stranded in a guest cabin, can you imagine being a philipino crew member making a couple bucks an hour being tasked with quarantine duty in an infectious environment andhaving to deal with grumpy inconvenienced guests? *shudder*

I'm growing increasingly wary about this "no serious cases" if the infection is only a week old or so.

It seems that in most cases the symptoms are rather harmless in the first week. Until then either your immune system has won over the virus and you start to recover or it didn't and then it starts to cause viral pneumonia (in about 15% of all cases) and things start to go downhill. You'll easily suffocate (which can be mitigated to an extent by ventilation or at least oxygen, but this needs a hospital) and/or slide into general sepsis with the virus spreading over all organs and you die of multiple organ failure, usually in the third week.

So waiting for 14 days mostly serves to see who is getting gravely ill until then. Testing for the virus (so you could focus on the infected and send the others on their way) is still tightly limited by testing capacities everywhere, since the test still needs to be done in a lab and each test takes about 1.5 hours. And of course even after you've tested all of them after many days you STILL don't know if none of those who tested negative has been infected by someone else in the meantime. So actually you would need to test them AGAIN then before sending them home.

This is increasingly looking like a legit nightmare and containing it long enough to develop some efficient treatments seems to be imperative.

An earlier news report stated that after arrival in Japan, the ship put back to sea to empty its filled sewage tanks, then returned to dock. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Do they just dump their Sewage tanks in the ocean?

Is this really shocking? I mean fish poop in the ocean all the time. Dumping waste oil would be a much bigger issue IMHO.

They also need to avoid dumping near shore of course.

Ya but fish poop is part of the natural eco system of the ocean.

human waste not so much, the ocean is not our home.

We've done so well with all the plastic in the ocean...

Can't we just take all of the waste collect it in a rocket and blast if off planet maybe into the sun. Never really understood the point of keeping it all on the planet.

Humans have been living near the oceans for thousands of years, people have been sailing out to sea for thousands of years (sailing and oars pre-date the pyramids) where do you think those people dumped there waste?

It's a question of density. There were hugely fewer than over 7 billion waste producers crowded on the planet then.

Also, disease and early death were not understood even if it was a problem They would be dismissed as just a mysterious but accepted part of life.

Somewhere on that boat is a middle aged Florida guy who won't stop making the "Coronavirus? I'll take mine with a side of lyme disease!" joke over, and over, and over and this is making the passengers far more physically ill than the virus could ever hope.

I'd be curious to know what are the health workers protocols for dealing with quarantined people like that? I mean, health workers themselves need to interact with quarantined -- to test them for the virus, for example. Are they also quarantined? It might be simpler for well known diseases, where it is well known how they spread and all, but what if it's something novel?

They're wearing protective gear.

What about the crew. Because while it would suck to be stranded in a guest cabin, can you imagine being a philipino crew member making a couple bucks an hour being tasked with quarantine duty in an infectious environment andhaving to deal with grumpy inconvenienced guests? *shudder*

Also as long as they haven't tested all of the crew you'll need to make sure you don't infect countless others while preparing meals or whatever in case you're one of the infected.

With a 2 week incubation period, could someone clarify when this quarantine would end? Would it be 2 weeks after the infected passenger disembarked (1/25, so 2/8)? 2 weeks after the last positive test (2/5, so 2/29)? 2 weeks after the quarantine started?

Waiting until this Saturday feels a lot different than waiting until the end of the month.

I don't see how they could end the quarantine until four weeks after all the remaining people on the boat had tested clear. This does assume tests would not identify someone with no symptoms. Otherwise, a carrier with no symptoms could pass it on in the first two weeks.

(edit): I suppose this could be cut to slightly over two weeks after all test clear if they are fully tested clear again just before the end of the quarantine.

Here's some positive news: It seems that both in lab tests as well as in the case of an US patient the anti-viral drug Remdesivir has led to dramatic improvements in a single dose with no adverse effects.

With a 2 week incubation period, could someone clarify when this quarantine would end? Would it be 2 weeks after the infected passenger disembarked (1/25, so 2/8)? 2 weeks after the last positive test (2/5, so 2/29)? 2 weeks after the quarantine started?

Waiting until this Saturday feels a lot different than waiting until the end of the month.

Not sure how the local authorities handle this case, but for the German citizens recently brought back from China, the quarantine time supposedly starts over any time one of the group is tested positive for the virus.

So far, though, I think all their positive cases were right after they arrived from China, so it didn't yet have any noticeable impact.

Airborne transmission occurs when infectious agents are carried by dust suspended in the air. With airborne transmission, direct contact is not needed to spread disease (as compared with respiratory droplet transmission). Infection may be transmitted over short distances by large droplets, and at longer distances by droplet nuclei generated by coughing and sneezing.

Airborne transmission is totally different from respiratory (droplet) transmission. With respiratory disease, the disease-causing bacteria and viruses are carried in the mouth, nose, throat and respiratory tree. They can spread by coming into direct contact with droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through saliva or mucus on unwashed hands.

With airborne transmission, droplet nuclei remain airborne for long periods, may disseminate widely in an environment such as a hospital ward or an operating room, and can be acquired by (and infect) patients directly, or indirectly through contaminated medical devices. Housekeeping activity such as sweeping, using dry dust mops or cloths, or shaking out linen, can aerosolize particles that may contain microorganisms.

There are more details about droplet size too.

Most other sites I see have a much looser (possibly wrong) definition, which counts anything that can be spread by talking, coughing, sneezing, etc. It's clear to me you are using the ATA definition.

I have never understood why people think getting on a boat with 3,000+ other people and being trapped there for the duration is fun. IMO it's certainly not a good idea. My wife always talks about taking a cruise. I'd rather eat broken glass with habanero sauce.

Just go to Vegas - you can leave the hotel if they run out of food.

1. Get on a cruise...persuaded by wife

2. Ship gets infected by zombie virus

3. Eat broken glass with habanero sauce to protect yourself from being eaten

Not to sound alarmist, but I wonder why (besides poor local resources?) we don't hear of more cases in Africa and South America. I am sure Chinese tourists and business people travel everywhere... Just afraid of what the real number of infected is.

Probably, but the number of people infected in third world countries that it takes to get Americans to care versus the number of cruise ship passengers it takes is probably heavily skewed.

Cruise ship = That could be me!Tanzania = Huh?

Ah, that is why I was feeling so indifferent. About the cruise ship that is.

Here's some positive news: It seems that both in lab tests as well as in the case of an US patient the anti-viral drug Remdesivir has led to dramatic improvements in a single dose with no adverse effects...

The problem with the US case report is that correlation does not equal causation. We can't say whether the patient would have recovered anyway, with or without the Remdesivir. There have been other reports of patients becoming seriously ill but recovering, without administration of Remdesivir or similar drugs. Once can still just be a coincidence.

I'd be curious to know what are the health workers protocols for dealing with quarantined people like that? I mean, health workers themselves need to interact with quarantined -- to test them for the virus, for example. Are they also quarantined? It might be simpler for well known diseases, where it is well known how they spread and all, but what if it's something novel?

They're wearing protective gear.

I'm sort of joking when I say this but I can't help but feel like we are in the 'TV talking heads mentioning the new virus someone found' phase right now. The beginning of the disaster move, in other words.

Some intrepid screenwriter is working on a Cruise Ship from Hell treatment right now. Trapped on a cruise ship with a 100% fatal virus loose in the ventilation system...

Here's some positive news: It seems that both in lab tests as well as in the case of an US patient the anti-viral drug Remdesivir has led to dramatic improvements in a single dose with no adverse effects...

The problem with the US case report is that correlation does not equal causation. We can't say whether the patient would have recovered anyway, with or without the Remdesivir. There have been other reports of patients becoming seriously ill but recovering, without administration of Remdesivir or similar drugs. Once can still just be a coincidence.

He was quickly sliding into viral pneumonia, he started to have positive virus tests in his excrements (and diarrhea) which points to virus spread -- this is not something you just recover from within two days.

Also, in a Chinese study Remdesivir, Chloroquine and Ritonavir seemed to work well against the virus on a cellular level.

Have they flown out a shipment of chainsaws and flamethrowers yet along with the movie cameras? Can't have an infectious disease horror show without some way for the plucky heroes to gib the poor infected souls before someone inevitably gets hauled in and gruesomely infected themselves after all.

More seriously, this is a horror show in its own right. My small rural county has a private high school (boarding school) that has a large Asian student body, and one poor kid was coming back from visiting home and, quite rightly, immediately told someone that he was feeling all sniffly and like he had caught something back home...

Ye Gods, the response. Thankfully they rushed him in before he got to the school; quarantined and tested him and he's clear, but can you imagine? It was making people nervous, let me tell you. Rural America is not really equipped to be the first to have to deal with pandemic--that's for city folks who are world travelers, don't you know? It's amazing the potential vectors--we see it on TV and it's always some guy in Phoenix or Chicago that is the 1st victim and then it could spread from there. But the first victim being someone who goes to the same school as your neighbor's kid in rural America? Just a bit nerve rattling.

An earlier news report stated that after arrival in Japan, the ship put back to sea to empty its filled sewage tanks, then returned to dock. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Do they just dump their Sewage tanks in the ocean?

Is this really shocking? I mean fish poop in the ocean all the time. Dumping waste oil would be a much bigger issue IMHO.

They also need to avoid dumping near shore of course.

Ya but fish poop is part of the natural eco system of the ocean.

human waste not so much, the ocean is not our home.

We've done so well with all the plastic in the ocean...

Can't we just take all of the waste collect it in a rocket and blast if off planet maybe into the sun. Never really understood the point of keeping it all on the planet.

Humans have been living near the oceans for thousands of years, people have been sailing out to sea for thousands of years (sailing and oars pre-date the pyramids) where do you think those people dumped there waste?

I'm aware of that but maybe its time to stop dumping shit in the ocean no pun intended

Here's some positive news: It seems that both in lab tests as well as in the case of an US patient the anti-viral drug Remdesivir has led to dramatic improvements in a single dose with no adverse effects...

The problem with the US case report is that correlation does not equal causation. We can't say whether the patient would have recovered anyway, with or without the Remdesivir. There have been other reports of patients becoming seriously ill but recovering, without administration of Remdesivir or similar drugs. Once can still just be a coincidence.

He was quickly sliding into viral pneumonia, he started to have positive virus tests in his excrements (and diarrhea) which points to virus spread -- this is not something you just recover from within two days.

Also, in a Chinese study Remdesivir, Chloroquine and Ritonavir seemed to work well against the virus on a cellular level.

Here's some positive news: It seems that both in lab tests as well as in the case of an US patient the anti-viral drug Remdesivir has led to dramatic improvements in a single dose with no adverse effects...

The problem with the US case report is that correlation does not equal causation. We can't say whether the patient would have recovered anyway, with or without the Remdesivir. There have been other reports of patients becoming seriously ill but recovering, without administration of Remdesivir or similar drugs. Once can still just be a coincidence.

He was quickly sliding into viral pneumonia, he started to have positive virus tests in his excrements (and diarrhea) which points to virus spread -- this is not something you just recover from within two days.

Also, in a Chinese study Remdesivir, Chloroquine and Ritonavir seemed to work well against the virus on a cellular level.

I've always seen cruise ships as a themeless convention, except your convention center/hotel is surrounded by water and sharks. Now it seems Con Crud has taken a novel turn.

I think of them as a Vegas casino that stops in a different city every day. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

A marauding Casino, roaming the high seas, invading unsuspecting port towns, picking the place clean, then shoving off to raid again!"Amazing," science protagonist says as companions look on in horror. "It's like a super-organism..."

Here's some positive news: It seems that both in lab tests as well as in the case of an US patient the anti-viral drug Remdesivir has led to dramatic improvements in a single dose with no adverse effects.

Here's some positive news: It seems that both in lab tests as well as in the case of an US patient the anti-viral drug Remdesivir has led to dramatic improvements in a single dose with no adverse effects...

The problem with the US case report is that correlation does not equal causation. We can't say whether the patient would have recovered anyway, with or without the Remdesivir. There have been other reports of patients becoming seriously ill but recovering, without administration of Remdesivir or similar drugs. Once can still just be a coincidence.

He was quickly sliding into viral pneumonia, he started to have positive virus tests in his excrements (and diarrhea) which points to virus spread -- this is not something you just recover from within two days.

Also, in a Chinese study Remdesivir, Chloroquine and Ritonavir seemed to work well against the virus on a cellular level.

I've always seen cruise ships as a themeless convention, except your convention center/hotel is surrounded by water and sharks. Now it seems Con Crud has taken a novel turn.

I think of them as a Vegas casino that stops in a different city every day. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Sadly, only if it were a Vegas casino of the Mob era, where they would break your legs if you attempted to leave, and if you did somehow manage to escape the goons, you'd be stranded in an almost endless desert with no potable water, threatened by bands of roving - starving - escaped tigers from the Pen & Teller show, and most importantly no cell service...